On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 1525
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charges attract each other; similar electrical
charges repel each other. In each atom,
protons in the central nucleus attract a cloud
of electrons that orbit constantly at various
distances from the nucleus. Stable forms of
the elements are electrically neutral, which
meansthattheiratomscontainequalnumbers
ofprotonsandelectrons.
(Iflikechargesrepeleachotherand
oppositechargesattract,thenwhyisitthatthe
protonsinthenucleusdon’tpusheachother
awayandtheorbitingelectronsfallstraight
intothenucleus?Itturnsoutthatthereare
forcesbesideselectricityatworkintheatom.
Theprotonsandneutronsareboundtogether
byverystrongnuclearforces,whileit’sthe
natureofelectronstobeincontinualmotion.
Soprotonsandelectronsarealwaysattracted
toeachotherandmoveinresponsetothe
other’spresence,buttheyneverconsummate
theirattraction.)
ElectricalImbalance,Reactions,andOxidation
ElectricalImbalance,Reactions,andOxidation
Theelectronsinatomsarearrangedaround
thenucleusinorbitsthatdeterminehow
stronglyanyparticularelectronisheldthere.
Someelectronsareheldcloseandtightlyto
thenucleus,whileothersrangefarawayand
areheldmoreweakly.Thebehaviorofthe
outermostelectronslargelydeterminesthe
chemicalbehavioroftheelements.For
example,theelementsclassi-fiedasmetals—
copper,aluminum,iron—holdtheir
outermostelectronsveryweakly,andeasily
givethemawaytotheatomsofother
elements—oxygen,chlorine—thatare
hungrierforelectrons,andthattendtograbup
anythatarelooselyheld.Thisimbalancein
electricalpullsamongdifferentelementsis
thebasisofmostchemicalreactions.
Reactionsareencountersamongatomsand
moleculesthatresultintheloss,gain,or
sharingofelectrons,andthuschangesinthe
propertiesoftheatomsandmolecules
